The Antiquarian and The Wisdom-Keeper
A knock at her door startled Aisaka from a sound sleep, something that annoyed her to no end. Without opening the door, she could tell that whoever was sent to deliver the information was nervous. As always her reputation preceded her, a fact that never failed to give her a kick. Just to unsettle the message deliver even more, she smiled as she opened the door, revealing a set of shark-like teeth. Last but not least, she released just a little reminder of who the ANBU-nin was facing. The ANBU-nin wet his pants in response while hyperventilating, before stuttering his way through the message. "This note is for you. Inclosed is the location where you are to meet the Information Broker, along with other things you will need to," he stammered, before saluting and excusing himself, leaving a trail of discernible fear as he quickly went back the way he came. Aisaka grinned, inhaling the wonderful smell of fear. It functioned as her coffee, waking her up fully after this early mission summons. Aisaka opened the card, reading through the note with disinterest before the card melted into water and evaporated. "Huh, so I'm supposed to meet this Info Broker in a bar, and then attempt to capture him should it prove possible. I get the feeling he is not a softie, otherwise they would simply state capture him. I wonder what kind of person he's like, if he is in fact a him. It would be a shame if I have to kill him," Aisaka pondered as she got dressed. After strapping her sword to her back, she left her apartment, casually walking through the street as Kiri-citizens scrambled to move out of her way. Once she reached the meeting place, she sat down at the bar, ordering a glass a wine while daring the bartender to say no (she was only 15 after all). Just her shark smile convinced him it wouldn't be in his best interest however, so instead she waited patiently while he gathered the materials necessary to pour her a glass of wine. "I wonder if he's here already," she thought, noting that there was no information given on what he would look like. If the rumors were true, he would probably come in disguise, as it would be too risky to do anything else. Small fingers fumbled with the small note that was addressed to one person, an individual that topped the underworld, none other than the Information Broker. It was delivered by one of his dear birdies that nestled itself on his bed, while he sat behind a small desk in the inn room that he had slept for the past few nights. It was a little secret from his companion, who was still waiting on him outside, while he was in a comfortable and warm room. That little sneaky thought caused a devilish grin to sneak up on the lips of the child that played with the note. Indeed, once more, he, the Information Broker, managed to infiltrate a village unrecognized. Of course that is nothing special to a disguisable man such as Izaya, the former leader of the Rain and its head village. Or the fact that this very man betrayed his home nation by annihilating an elite corps that withheld valuable information that he had stolen to keep to himself. As such, the vermillion eyes of the child glimmered with an amused twinkle; a new victim, more information. "Oh no, look at the time. I think it's time to get going!" He laughed as he headed out of his room, with a fox mask hiding his face and a raven sitting tamely on his shoulder. In front of the bar door, the nauseous scent reached the nostrils of the white-haired child with the fox mask. Yet, it did not bother him at all, he could care less. What he did do was pulling the note in between his fingers again, crumbling it, before it flared up in flames... burning up in air as he threw it aside as his small hand opened the door. There wasn't much to see that interested the boy, for there were only a couple of drunkards, lazy people and sobers that watches the youngling enter the bar fearlessly. However, he notices that the aura wasn't too pleasant for a bar, he felt the fear dominating the air. And as such, his eyes falls upon a young woman with an outstanding hair color. "Ol'man, I'm disappointed in you." His voice adjusted to the small body he was in, as his hand extended to grab the glass of wine. Surely, the man's eyes widened at the child, who, in height and tone of voice could be no older than 7-8. "A pretty onee-chan shouldn't be drinking at this age nor should she be here." On top of that, a large bird was sitting on the shoulder of the fearless brat. Aisaka swirled the remains of wine in her glass, awaiting the arrival of her target. It was then that she was approached by a young man wearing a fox mask. She grinned at his comment of her being too young to be at the bar, revealing the shark-like teeth that mirrored the teeth of the Seven Swordsmen. "That's true, but does that mean I need to follow this rule? I doubt it," Aisaka said, placing her ANBU mask on the bar counter. "Then again, I'm not as young as you think I am," Aisaka said sticking out her tongue to taste the fear-filled air. "I assume your the one I'm waiting for?" she asked innocently, leaving her now empty wine glass on the table while picking up her mask. "By the way, whatever you have to say better be worth it, I hate being woken up early, and a few of these customers can attest to what happens when a person wastes my time," with that she grinned at the patrons, watching them shrink away from her presence. "Shall we be off?" Aisaka asked, as she prepared to leave the establishment, "I do hope you ate before you left the place you came from, as we won't be eating for a while," The large bird continued to rest comfortably on the young man's shoulder, as she stared down the fox-masked man. “In fact, I do believe a commoner of fifteen years old and the niece of Zabuza Momochi should be following the rules as much as anyone else here.” He bluntly replied to the teenage girl in front of him, before taking seat next to her. His fox-mask curved to near the end of his cheekbones, leaving no skin bare to be seen for those that were curious about the face behind the mask. The fingers that fumbled with the note from before affectionately scratched the neck of the large bird. “Who knows, neechan. I only know I am wanted here,” he shrugs his shoulders and glanced at her, “... so I came around to hang about with Mr. Kuromatsu here.” A boyish laugh escaped the boys lips, “But man, Aisaka-chan surely is bossy and scary! It’s why I feel like going against Aisaka-chan’s wishes just to see if she will comply to me~.” And as such, he ignored the teenage girl for a moment to turn around in his seat. “Ol’man, give me one of those drinks that neechan just had!” Aisaka snickered at the boy's response, "I wouldn't call myself bossy or scary, but rather persuasive. Besides, I had a feeling you would be like this, considering you have all sorts of precious and potentially damning information locked up in that brain of yours. It would have been only a matter of time before it went to your head," She sat back down, before ordering a refill. "Out of curiousity, what have you been up to? You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but as a traveler, its nice to hear where others have been. It gets boring when I cooped up in the village doing more mundane tasks," Aisaka said, while adjusting herself for greater comfort while sitting down next to the fox-masked man. "Is it true that your real name is Izaya, onii-chan?" Aisaka asked innocently, curious as to how he would react when she used his real name. He wasn't the only information gatherer. In fact, being the way she was made it easier to gather information. Her innocent appearance combined with her own reputation and her uncle's legacy served as mode for underestimation. Many considered her to be a blunt tool in the hands of Kiri. On the contrary, she was a rather intelligent young woman, letting her reputation serve as a method of underestimation. "Persuasive? Is that what persuasive around these areas mean; frightening the people to the point of making them pee in their pants?," the fox-masked boy tilted his head to the side to watch the reaction of the girl, "hum, hum, interesting. I'll be taking notes of this." Receiving a similar drink to that of Aisaka the boy shifted his mask to the side of his face which exposes part of his facial features: an extremely pale complexion with red battle marks decorated on his cheekbone. Everything above that was hidden by the mask. He simply took a sip from his drink, snarling inside with disgust. "Bah. This is disgusting!" He pushed the glass away from him, "and it's smelly. Glass of water will be fine instead, ol'man." Upon hearing her interest in him, the boy couldn't resist but to have the corner of his lip to be tilted up into a little smile. "What I have been up to? Humm… not much other than gathering intel for Master. Killing people. Oh yeah," he paused, the corner of his lip that was exposed tilted up a little, into a dull smile, "Receiving notes to meet Aisaka-neechan by her superiors." Upon listening to Aisaka, the boy couldn't resist to laugh at her funny comment about him, Izaya, being Izaya. "Sorry, neechan! But I'm a, or well, was, servant of the former Lord. He trained us," he emphasised on the latter, "we have no name, but Lord Izaya gave all of us one, depending on our behaviour. I am a fox, neechan, therefore I am called Misaki, Misaki of the Rain, servant of Lord Hōsōshi." Aisaka laughed at the boy's response, "Please, you act like you're a saint, imparting good will to all he meets. Then again, you look rather soft as far as hardened assassins/info gatherers go," She paused to sip at the now refilled glass of wine. "What's wrong? Is the glass of wine to strong for you onii-chan? If so, there are plenty of softer drinks in the back that are more appropriate for one of your gently raised standing," Aisaka grinned once more before polishing off her glass. For one so young and of a relatively short stature, she had an extremely high tolerance for alcohol, allowing a few glasses to put little to no damper on her function. She had to admit though, she was enjoying this conversation with the Info Broker, despite his intolerance of wine. Though she knew that the person she was talking to was mostly likely Izaya (despite his claims otherwise), she had a feeling he wasn't going to spill the beans on his real identity, at least not right away, so she dropped it. As for the boy's adventures went, they were pretty routine for his supposed job description, something that was a bit of a bummer to her. "So Ame has a new leader now?" Aisaka asked, catching the mention of a new person, "To think that poor lightning dude decided to retire. I was honestly looking forward to at least challenging him once, just to see if he was as powerful as everyone claimed him to be," at this she yawned, "So now what?" "A saint, eh? Aisaka-nee must be blind as a bat then." He tucked on the side of the mask, placing it back on his face, hiding his facial features once more. His voice sinking into a deeper tone for a boy of his age, "One must never judge the appearance, isn't that right?" He suddenly retorted to his more childish self with his next sentence, "Naay! I need to be sober to help out my client, no? Besides, I have never... tasted this before and I don't think I'll take it well." There was no such thing as tasting alcohol while he was working, besides the retired Lord had no tolerance for that. He remembered how his old love would've shouted at him in the next morning and wanting to rip his best friend apart for letting him get that wasted. Suddenly, the boy smirked underneath his mask, pleased by her interest in Ame's new leader. "I'll give you one last bit of free information, Aisaka-nee. According to the rumours that had been spread by the witnesses, Lord Izaya was utterly defeated by Lord Hōsōshi; a lightning monster defeated by the slumbering demon of the Mist" He paused for a moment, kicking a free leg against the bar before turning around to face Aisaka. "Now," he leaned forward to her, such a straight-forward kid. Playtime was definitely over. "What does Aisaka-nee need to know from me and what will she offer in return for that, mh?" "So you are a lightweight then," Aisaka said, as her Killing Intent subsided slightly, allowing patrons to breathe and move once longer. It took some focus to maintain the intent's potency, and she preferred to have all of her concentration on the task at hand. To the broker's second question, Aisaka started to think. "Hmm...the usual, which is info on some Kiri missing-nin. According to my knowledge, your former home may be harboring some. I was wondering if you could give me some basic information as to their whereabouts, and whether or not they are in Ame," Aisaka said. "Apparently these missing-nin or just my type; strong and in need of a beatdown," at this Aisaka's grin turned sinister. "As for what I'll offer in exchange for this information, it depends on what your looking for. I do have funds to pay you for your services, should you find such a thing appropriate. If this is so, what would the total cost come to?" Aisaka asked, her sinister smile gone. It was time to get down to business, and finish the deed. Aisaka still hadn't decided whether or not she would attempt capturing the broker, though she had a feeling that from his fox mask to his demeanor that the person she was dealing with would be a slippery one. Category:Role-Play